The Mines and !vfining Building of the
World's Columbian Exposition, 1893:
A Photographic Essay
by Karen and Mark Vendi
·'
Exterior view of the Mines and M in ing Build ing. (Except as noted, all photographs by C. D. A m old, courtesy of the Chicago Pub li c
Li brary.)
T
he W orld's Columbian Exposition was con ..
ceived to commemorate the 400'" anniver··
sary of C hristopher Columbus' first voyage
across the Atlantic. The desire to celebrate one of
the most important events in history with an exposi··
tion was motivated in part by the great success of the
1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and the
1889 Paris World's Fair. A bill was introduced in the
U.S. Congress in June of 1888, seeking $5 million in.
federal funds for the exposition. New York C ity,
Washington D.C., and Chicago offered proposals to
host the fair. Congress was most impressed by Chicago's long list of attributes, and on April 25, 1890,
selected that city to host an "International Exposition of Arts, Industries and Manufactures, and products of the soil, mine and sea."
A parcel of more than 600 acres of swamp land
was selected for the site. It was six miles south of
downtown C hicago on the shore of Lake Michigan.
The site included a mile-long, 600- foot- 'vvide strip
The Mines and Mining Building of the World's Columbian Exj)OSition 1893
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CROUND PLAN
MINES AND MINING BU ILDING ..
CA LL ER Y PLAN
MINES AND MINING BUILDING.
The Mines and Mining Building floor plan.
of wooded land at the edge of the University oP Chicago campus. The area would become home to the
first side-show attractions at a world's fair-the first
Ferris Wheel among them. The Columbian Exposition, delayed a year by organizational problems, ran
from May through October, 1893. Admission was
fifty cents for adults and children.
In 1893, Chicago had a population of one million people, and was trying very hard to earn a reputation as a leading cultural city. Only twenty- two
years had passed since the Great Chicago Fire, an
event from which many people felt Chicago ·would
never recover. But recover it did, and tnany felt that
the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 outshone
all other world's fairs in scope and grandeur.
Twenty-eight million people visited the fair during
its six-month run.
Fourteen Great Buildings, called the Court of
Honor, surrounded the Great Basin, with the Statue
of the Republic at the east end and the Columbian
.'32
200 I Mining History Journal
Fountain at the west end. Among the buildings were
Transportation, Mines and Mining, Electricity,
Manufacturers and Liberal Arts, Administration,
Agriculture, and Machinery. In addition to the fourteen G reat Buildings, there were some two hundred
additional buildings on the grounds.'
The Columbian Exposition was the first world's
fair at which mining was given a building of its own
and placed on an equal footing with agriculture,
manufacturing, and other industrial pursuits. In fact,
the Mines and Mining Building occupied one of the
best locations on the exposition's grounds, in part
because mining ranked third in value of production
among the industries of the United States in 1893.
The Columbian Exposition provided a wondetful
opportunity for the mining industry to show the
world the state of the art in rnineral production.
States, foreign countries, mining companies, and
mining equipment manufacturers used the exposi-
tion to promote themselves to buyers and investors.
For instance, Horace Tabor's Gold and Silver Extraction Company, trying to attract the attention of
Midwestern investors, promoted its cyanide process
at the Columbian Exposition. The company's process won the "diploma of the first class for the treatment of refractory gold and silver ores."1
The Mines and Mining Building was located at
the southern end of the lagoon between the Electricity and Transportation Buildings. The building, in
Italian Renaissance style with some French influences, was 700 feet long and 350 feet wide, and cost
$265,000 to build. It had nearly six acres of floor
space, and more than o ne and a half million tons of
iron and steel ·were used in its construction . The
Mining Building, like most of the exposition's buildings, was covered with a temporary material called
staff. Staff consisted of plaster, cement, and hemp
troweled onto wooden lath, and was o nly intended
Interior view of rhe Mines nnd Mining Building.
The Mines and Mining Building of the \XIorld's Columbian ExJ)osition 1893
The
Monr~ma
to last for the six-month run of the fair. Almost all
of the buildings were white to give a unified, pristine
appearance to the grounds, giving rise to the name
"the White City." 1
The Mines and Mining Building had four entrances, one on each side of the building, leading to
the ground floor exhibit area which measured 630
feet by 230 feet. Flights of stairs to the right and left
of each entrance led to galleries which were 60 feet
wide and 25 feet above the ground. These galleries
were lighted by large windows on the sides, and from
apertures above. The two ma in aisles in the building
ran north-south and east- west. A central nave at
their intersection was sometimes called "Bull ion
Boulevard." The building contained a total of
227,847 square feet of exhibition space. By instruction of the exposition's director-general, one-half of
the space on the ground fl oor was reserved for foreign countries, with the other half reserved for state
33
Mining Exhibit.
exhibits and for private exh ibits of mining machinery. An area outside the building was reserved for
well drilling machinery. 4
The State of Montana hosted one of the most
popular exhibits in the Mining Building. Montana
had joined the Union only a few years before the
Columbian Exposition, and its supporters wanted to
show the rest of the nacion what a valuable addition
it would be. Montana claimed the largest gold mine,
the largest silver mine, and the largest copper mine
in the country in 1890. In 1892, Montana was second only to Colorado in silver production. The center of attention in the state's exhibit was the silver
Statue of Justice, but the Montana exhibit also contained the largest collection of gold nuggets in the
Mining Hall- including one weighing forty-eight
ounces. The exhibit included fifty tons of specimens
from at least twelve counties in Montana. An excellent display of Montana sapphires, rubies, and gar-
34
200 I Mining Histol)' ]oumal
Montana's Statue of Justice.
nets attracted great interest. Another curiosity was
an old wooden cam used in 1864 at a four-stamp
mill on Grasshopper C reek in the Bannock gold district. 5
The Statue of justice in the Montana Exhibit was
one of the most popular displays in the Mining
Building. The statue, fashioned out of native silver
from Montana, stood atop a globe which in turn sat
on the back of an eagle with its wings extended. In
her right hand Justice held a two-edged sword. In
her lefr hand she held scales equally balanced ·with
gold coins on one side and silver coins on the other.
The statue measured nine feet high from the eagle to
the top of Justice's head. The lady, globe, and eagle
were cast in sterling silver, and sat on a square base
more than two feet on a side, made of solid gold. A
pile of copper bars stood behind this statue.
The modd for the Statue of Justice was the internationally-renowned actress, Ada Rehan, who was
chosen by Walter M. Bickford, the executive director of Montana's Board of World's Fair Managers. In
selecting Miss Rehan, he said "Out of the 68 measurements that mark the artistic standard of petfect
womanhood, 62 of Miss Rehan's measurements con-
The Mines and Mining Building of the World's Columbian Exf)OSition /893
form in every way. And in none of the other 6 does
she deviate one-quarter of an inch from the standard."
After the fair, the gold base was returned to the
woman who had donated it, and the statue, now on
a copper base, toured the country for a few years. A
legal dispute developed between the two men who
owned the silver in the statue in 1896. An agreement was fina lly reached in 1903 in which Justice
was reduced to bullion and the proceeds divided
among the contesting parties. Even though justice's
fate was not very glamorous, she did make a big impression on the country. In 1895, the Montgomery
W ard catalog sold exact replicas of Justice. A
twelve-inch high statue cost $2.95, a twenty-inch
high statue cost $6.00.6
Colorado produced more precious metals than
any other state in 1892, and for this reason it was
35
assigned a place of honor near the south entrance of
the Mining Building. The exhibit had columns and
pillars made of various building stones and a display
of coal measuring eight feet on a side at the base and
twenty-four feet in height. Two sides of the exhibit
were lined with specimens of ore-including gold
and silve r-bearing quartz- from various mining districts around the scare, including Aspen, Leadville,
Gunnison County, Cripple C reek, and C reede.
There were \>Vire, nugget, placer and o ther forms of
gold from the Breckenridge District. A large portion
of the cabinet display came from the School of
Mines in Golden, Colorado. The Colorado exhibit
also featured meteorites, coal, iron, and displays on
smelting and refining processes.i
Colorado had ano ther exhibit in the gallery o r
mezzanine of the Mining Building. The centerpiece
of this exhibit was a statue called the Silver Queen.
The Colorado Mining Exhibit.
36
200 I Mining History ]ol,tmal
one fi lled with gold coins. A glass case filled with
mineral specimens from the Aspen District rested at
each corner of the pedestal. The display contained
hundreds of miniature lights-within the statue, in
the scepter, in the wheels of the chariot, and in the
words "Silver Queen."
After the Columbian Exposition, the Silver
Queen went on display at the Colorado Mineral Palace in Pueblo, Colorado. After the Palace was tom
down in 1942, the statue was supposedly crated to be
shipped to Denver, but the trail ends there. No one
seems to know what happened to the Silver Queen.
In 1976, the Aspen Centennial- Bicentennial committee distributed posters of the Silver Queen and
offered a $5,000 reward for her return to the city of
Aspen, but the search never turned up any real
clues. 8
Although still a territory in 1893, Arizona's exhibit in the Mining Building was considered one of
the most attractive of the state and territorial exhibits. A series of cabinets contained collections of
The Colorado Silver Queen Srawe. (Courtesy of the Aspen
Hismrical Sociery.)
T he figure was made to represent a Colorado girl of
17 years, which was the age of the State of Colorado
in 1893. The statue was 10 feet by 12 feet at the base
and 18 feet tall from the base to the top of an
American eagle perched on the canopy. The composition of the statue is the subject of some historical
debate. One story has it being made from a single
nugget of silver from the Mollie Gibson tninc. Another story claims that the statue was made of zinc
and other base metals, rather than silver.
However she assayed, the Colorado Silver Queen
was very impressive. She was seated in a chariot, the
front of which resembled the prow of an Egyptian
barge, with a silver buck's head at the bow. There
was a large star on top of the twelve-inch silver dollar on her scepter. Mythical gods of riches stood at
either side of the Queen. One god carried a cornucopia overflowing with silver coins, and the other held
Malachite find Azurite from the Copper Queen M ine, Bisbee,
Arizona. (Courtesy of the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum.)
The Mines and Mining Building of the World's Columbian ExfJosition I893
The
C;~ l ifornia
Mining Exhibi t.
37
specimens, largely from the terri tory's copper mines,
as well as gold, silver, and lead ores, and gold nuggets. Refined copper was exhiibited in bricks, bars,
sheets, ro lls, plates, and wires. In the center of this
exhibit was a three- ton specimen of malachite and
azurite from the Copper Queen mine in Bisbee, Arizona. Part of this specimen is presently on display in
the mineral hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York C ity. 9
Visitors en tered the California exhibit through a
triple arch, 36 feet in length, with wings on either
side. Many types of California building stone were
used in the construction of this entrance, from dark
granite and white marble to onyx and gray sandstone. Since California was the leading gold producing state in 1892, there were double rows of display
cases containing gold and silver ores. The center of
interest in the California display was the nugget allegedly picked up by John Marshall from the Coloma
millrace in January of 1848. But because of its great
value, this specimen was removed from the exhibit
shortly after the exposition opened. Also displayed
in the California exhibit was a model illustrating the
square-set timbering method developed by Ph illip
T he Idaho Mining Exhibit.
38
2001 Mining HistoY)' Journal
The South Dakota Mining Exhibit.
Deidesheimer for use in the Comstock District of
N evada. 10
Idaho's pavilion, which was colored white and
gold, contained samples of gold, silver, and copper
ores, as well as cinnabar, building stones, and clays.
In the foreground of this photograph is a pile of
stembergite, a silver ore which assayed 200 ounces
per ton. Every mi.ning district in the state was represented, including the most important silver district
in Idaho in 1892, the Coeur d' A lene. Pictures on
the walls represented various mining camps throughout the state. 11
The South Dakota exhibit bore the inscription
"First in gold mining machinery, first in new mines,
and second in gold." In keeping with that slogan , it
displayed some remarkable specimens of gold ore.
Inside the entrance to the exhibit was a structure
made of tin ore fro m Harney Peak in the Black Hills.
A lso present in the South Dakota exhibit were two
life-sized figures carved in sandstone, a tower of
Portland cement from a Yankton manufacturer, and
a display of petrified wood. 12
The Michigan exhibit was located on the northeast side of the center pavilion of the Mining Building in the largest space allotted to any of the state
exhibits. Michigan gained this position of honor because of its prominence as a mining state. Visitors to
the exhibit entered through a stone arch made of
light red and brown sandstone from the Portage
Q uarries Company. O n top of the arch was a bronze
statue of two miners and the Goddess Victory. A
sandstone fence, courtesy of the Detroit Brownstone
Company of L'Anse, Michigan , extended to the left
and right of the arch. Pedestals on either side of the
arch were made of carved brownstone, topped \.vith a
gypsum obelisk.
Michigan's mineral display included specimens of
iron , gold, and silver ores, and coal, amethyst, and
The Mines and Mining Building of the \'(/or/d's Columbian ExfJosition 1893
agate. But copper was the tnain feature of the Michigan display, presented as native copper, in ingots,
bars, sheets, cakes, and wire. The copper ores on display revealed copper in every manner of occurrence,
including native copper masses from the Central
Mine, as well as a variety of amygdaloids and conglomerates from at least fourteen different mines.
There were two masses of native copper on displayone weighed 8,500 pounds and the other 6,200
pounds. Next to the mineral exhibit were models
showing the systems of mining, timbering, hoisting,
and preliminary crushing used by the Tamarack and
the Calumet and Hecla mining companies.11
T he Canadian exhibit occupied a large space in
the Mining Building with an entrance on the main
aisle across from the Ohio exhibit. This exhibit included specimens from the Geological and Natural
History Survey in Ottawa, and from several provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Nova
39
Scotia, New Brunswick, and the NorThwest Territorics. As a province abounding in mineral wealth,
Ontario had the largest exhibit in the Canadian display, with over 1,500 mineral specimens altogether.
Of particular interest was an ingot of pure nickel
frorn the Sudbury District weighing 4500 pounds.
British Columbia was the gold country of Canada in
1893, and as such it had an extensive gold display,
including examples of placer gold from the Caribou,
Omenica, and Kootenay districts.
Quebec, with a very productive mining industry
in 1893, exhibited an abundance of mineral specimens, featuring asbestos and copper displays, and
sheets of mica displayed on the wall- some as large
as 30 inches on a side. The central feature of the
Nova Scotia exhibit was a gold display showing samples of gold-bearing quartz veins from several parts
of the province, but coal \-vas also featured, drawn
from the extensive fields of Picton and Cumberland
The Michigan Mining Display.
2001 Mining History journal
40
The Canadian Mining Display.
Counties-and from Cape Breton Island. Nevv
Brunswick represented itself with specimens of gypsum, red granite, and other building stones. The
Northwest T erritories exhibited samples of gold, bituminous and anthracite coal, petroleum, coal tar,
clay, and building stones. 14
***
By the time the Columbian Exposition ended on
October 30, 1893 , it had hosted about 28 million
visitors. The Columbian Exposition was the first
American international exposition to end profitably,
with a cash balance of $446,832. A fire on July 5,
1894 destroyed practically all of the Fair buildings.
The only building which remains is the rebuilt Palace of Fine Arts, now the Museum of Science and
Industry. A lthough gone now, the Mines and Mining Building at the World's Columbian Exposition of
1893 provided the mining industry with a grand
stage upon which to enter the twentieth century. 15
The Mines and Mining Building of the World's Columbian Exposition 1893
41
Notes
I.
2.
3.
Normnn Bolotin <~nd C hristine L<~ing, The Wlorlcl's Colwnhian Ex/JOsicion (W<lshington D.C.: The Preservmion Press,
1992), l -2.
Hubert Howe B(lnc roft, The Book of che Fair (New York:
Bounty Books, 1894), 466. Robert L. Spude, "Cynnide a nd
the Flood of G o ld," Essays and MonografJhs in Colorado Hiswry, Colomdo Historic<~! Society, 12 (1991): 1-35.
John J. Flinn, Official G uide co che \'(/m·ld's Columhian Ex/JOsition (Chic<~go: The Columbinn Guide Comp<~ny, 1893),
103. Bolotin & Laing, The Wlorld's Columbian ExfJosition,
Maga zine (1993): 30-5.
9.
I0.
II.
18.
4.
5.
6.
"Mining <It the Columbinn Exposition," The Engineering and
Mining journal LV (6 May 1893): 413 -6.
"Mining <It the Columbinn Exposition-The Monran<1 State
Exhibit," The Engineering cmd Mining ]mmwl LVI (19 Aug.
1893 ): 187 -9. Bancroft, The Book of the Fair, 485-6.
Dave W<~lter, 'The Mystery of H auser's S ilver Lady," The
lndefJendent Record Helena , 23 Oct. 1997. Moncgomel) ' \Vmd
&Co.'sCawlogNo. 57 ( 1895), 202.
7.
8.
"Mining <It the Columbian Exposition -Tile Colorado SuHe
Exhibit," The Engineering and Mining ]oumal LV (24 June
1893): 58 1. Banc ro ft, The Book of che Fcrir, 486-7.
Mary Eshbaugh Hayes, "The S ilver Q ueen ," Destinacions
12.
13.
"Mining (lt the Columbi<~n Exposition -1l1e Arizona S tate
Exhibit", The Engineering and Mining ]oumal LV ( 10 June
1893). Bancroft, The Book of che Fair , 487. Richard W.
G raeme, "The Queen and Her Court," in Carlos A.
Schwantes, Bisbee Urban OrrtfJost on the Frontier (Tucson:
The University of Arizona Press, 1992), 42. Personal communication with Rich<~rcl W. G raeme, June, 2000.
Bancroft, The Book of che Fair, 479-481.
D. B. Sh epp, SheptJ's IJ:Iorlds Fair Plwcogr(r/Jired, Part 13
(Philaclelphin: A lfred M. S locum Co., 1893), 214 -5. Ban croft, The Book of che Fair, 482-5.
Bancroft, The Book of the Fcrir, 4 77.
"The Michiga n Exhibit at C hicago," The Engineering and
Mining ] oumal LVI (II Nov. 1893): 495-7. Bnncroft, The
Book of the Fair, 474-5.
14. "The Canadian Exhibit at C h icago", The Engineering and
Mining ] ounwl LVI (16 Dec. 1893): 6 16-7. Bnncroft, Tire
Book of che Fair, 491-2.
15. Constance Gordon , The Wlorld's Columbian ExfJosition,
(Remarkable Papers, 11 5 Years of Collecting by the C hi cago Public Library): 3 I -3.